William Byron comments on the recent difficulties in the Cup Series

Winning races in NASCAR is not a given; even if it were, they just don’t happen. Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron knows a lot about winning lately, but he also knows a lot about how hard it is to win. The driver of the famous No. 24 Chevrolet has been the winningest racer in the Next Gen Car era so far.

Byron has three wins so far in 2024, including the Daytona 500 that opened the season. He had also won more than three races at this point in the season in 2023. Just because you win three races early doesn’t mean it will continue throughout the season. Every champion in NASCAR history has had points losses during a season. It’s such a long, tough season that you should expect a driver to have some difficulties as the year goes on.

That’s been the theme for Byron throughout his Cup career, he struggled in the summer of the season. It’s no different this season, except it’s been a rough patch lately.

William Byron comments on the recent difficulties in the Cup Series

Byron won six races in 2023 and made the Championship Four. He quickly became a championship contender year after year because he is so competitive at all the tracks on the schedule. Lately, Byron hasn’t been spectacular as the races have gone by.

Byron spoke about his recent losing streak, which included 19th or worse in three of the last four races, not to mention finishing outside the top 20 five times this season. That’s the most for a driver who has won three times. Last week at Nashville Superspeedway, he had high hopes again after another good qualifying performance. He spoke to Motorsport.com’s Jim Utter about his losing streak.

“I mean, we’re really trying hard. I feel like we’re preparing harder than we ever have before,” Byron said. “You know, I think we’ve just been in a good place in all areas as far as results go. But when you look at our speed, Sonoma comes to mind as a race where we had top-3 or top-4 speed but never really got to show it because we had a flat tire early and then we crashed into everyone in Turn 11.”

Byron’s fiery start has cooled down

Byron started the year by winning the 500, then won at Circuit of the Americas and won at Martinsville in the Hendrick Motorsports 40th Anniversary, making him a clear favorite for the title this season.

That early success has certainly cooled things down considerably, but he is still confident that things will turn around and he can stay in the race.

Byron talked about how frustrating the results were and how quickly he fell behind in the regular season points race.

“I just see the results a little bit frustrating because we were there in all areas. But Iowa was a really good race for us, we got second,” Byron told Utter. “I think we just have to be present week in and week out and have those consistent weekends; in terms of communication, effort and limiting the mistakes and just seeing where we are.”

Opportunity to do everything right

The Chicago Street Race should be interesting as Byron begins to show how much better he has become at street racing. Two street course wins in his career can’t hurt. One thing is for sure: William Byron needs a good result this weekend to regain his confidence.

Chrome 😍😍 https://t.co/ajaU3E0MZN

– William Byron (@WilliamByron) July 3, 2024

Last year’s event was a lot of chaos, so if Byron can avoid trouble this time, he’ll be in for a treat, especially with the team hitting so many strong tracks in the final eight races of the regular season. Byron honestly isn’t that far off, just look at how well he was running in Nashville until things got messed up in the final stage.

The No. 24 car and the team should not be underestimated.